NORFOLK, Va. — The quarterback competition may have caught some by surprise.
After all, Hayden Wolff had led the ODU Monarchs to a 5-2 record as starting quarterback to finish the 2021 season. The redshirt sophomore tossed for more than 300 yards twice and quarterbacked the Monarchs to a 5 game winning streak. Wolff threw 10 touchdowns to 7 interceptions while completing 62.8 percent of his passes.
Ricky Rahne wanted to see more. More of Wolff and his offseason improvements, more of 6th year senior DJ Mack, who initially won the job in 2021 and a lengthy first glance at Notre Dame transfer Brendon Clark as he works his way back from an ACL tear.
At ODU media day Rahne confirmed what many suspected all along, that Wolff is his guy for 2022.
"I really have loved how he has approached this training camp," said the former Penn State offensive coordinator, "He's a guy who prepares at a very very high level, he was doing that whether he was going to be the starting QB or not. Excited to see where he goes this year, he's made some major improvements in his game."
It's a new conference for ODU in 2022, and one that is significantly more competitive. Now the team knows they'll take on this new challenge with a familiar field general.